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This is the review of Algebra in 10 lessons written in TeX
and converted to the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Features
include verbose discussion of topics, typeset quality
mathematics, user interactivity in the form of multiple choice
quizzes, in-line examples and exercises with complete solutions,
and pop-up graphics.

These tutorials are viewed in the PDF format. This requires
that you have Acrobat Reader 3.0 or greater, which you can obtain
by clicking on the Get Adobe Reader icon. The tutorial
will not function correctlyunless you have Version
3.0. or greater.

This might be a good time to update to the latest version
of the Reader, version 5.0.

Advertisement. Like what
you see here? Want others to know about the Algebra Review? Why
not download my advertisement flyer,
print it, and post it in your favorite location where Algebra
students congregate..

Why? Is a good question to ask. This review of (high
school) algebra in 10 lessons is designed to prepare students
entering The University of Akron for our Math Placement Exam
II. The mark received on this test determines the starting point
in mathematics at our university. Reasons for and uses of this
tutorial are given in the opening menu.

Why TeX and why AMS-TeX? The goal of the tutorials was to
have textbook quality typesetting. AMS-TeX has a broad collection
of mathematical typesetting macros that makes life easy. I did
not use LaTeX. Plain TeX combined with AMS-TeX gave me the ability
to write highly specialized formatting macros without being forced
into a finite collection of packaged formats.

TeX Compiler
and Previewer

Some of the goals of these tutorials were to have color
fonts, hypertext link capabilities for cross-referencing
as well as textbook quality typesetting. After looking around
for what was available (freeware, shareware, and payware), I
settled on the Y&Y TeX System.
This was the only system that had all the stated features---and
then some.

I found that the people at Y&Y were extremely cooperative.
They worked with me and added in some additional features that
I argued were important and needed. Without their help the initial
phase of the project could not have progressed nearly as fast
as it did.

As a consequence of the high quality of the Y&Y product,
I have been able to develop on-line tutorials in Calculus
and Algebra that have a high degree of interactivity (also
one of the goals of the project). On my Department's
local network, students used the DVIWindo
to view the tutorials.

One of the problems with the concept of an on-line tutorial
was that the students had to come into the computer labs to read
the tutorial. Early on, students asked me if the tutorials were
available over the `net; my answer, an emphatic: "No!"

Fortunately, the people of Y&Y anticipated the directions
of TeX publication. They had already begun to work on the problem
of porting PostScript files produced by their TeX compiler to
the Portable Document Format of Adobe. This again made it very,
very easy to move portions of the tutorial to the net. See the
next point.

Given that the basic goals of the project are still valid,
the natural choice of document format was PDF. Y&Y's DVIPSONE automatically
converts the hypertext links within the dvi file to pdfmarks.
Hence, converting from dvi to pdf was a painless (almost) task.
Within DVIWindo, we print the dvi file to Adobe's Distiller
Assistant. The Assistant calls the Distiller to convert the file
to the pdf format. A one-step process!

Some of the interactivity is lost however. As I learn more
about Acrobat and it's capabilities, perhaps all the tricks that
I used for the dvi files can eventually be ported to the pdf
format.

In the tutorial Algebra Review in Ten Lessons, I've begun
using PSTricks by Timothy van Zandt. This TeX macro
package unleashes the power of postscript within a TeX document.
I used PSTricks to create the Algebra Review logo
and the many graphs that appear in Lessons 9 and 10.

Configuring
your Browser

Graphics Viewers:

I utilize graphic files in the tiff format for two
purposes: (1) To display graphs and pictures that illustrate
the points under discussion, and (2) To display messages to the
user---this is used for the interactivity part of the tutorial.

You need a (external) helper application for viewing these
tiff files.

Windows 95. The one I
use for my Windows 95 based system is a free viewer
that extends quikview.exe, a program that comes with the
operating system. The file you want is called ImgView.
It is freely available from PCMag
from their Downloads
Homepage. Download ImgView and install it. (Be sure
to install the tiff viewer.) Configure your browser to
use quikview, which is located in c:\windows\system\viewers
subdirectory, as the helper application to use with viewing tiff
files. (Note: If you do not have the quikview.exe, you
can download
it from Microsoft; or, if not found at that Url (due
to reindexing of the site), go to the Microsoft
homepage and search on the key word "quickview".

Windows 3.x. I recommend
ACDSee16.
Configure your (Netscape) browser to use ACDSee16 as a helper
application when viewing tiff files.

What's New!

(1/31/98) Uploaded a_qbn1j.pdf.
This new version of Algeboard, which uses Acrobat
Forms 3.5, uses Javascript programming to keep score as you
answer the questions. You must have installed Acrobat
Forms 3.5 for the games to work properly. Report any bugs
in the programming to me please.

Should you find it necessary, you can download the tutorial
to a local hard disk and use it locally; however, there are some
caveats.

The tutorial is setup for the Web and so many of the brown links are relative path URL's...they
will not work on a local hard disk. Some brown
links will work: The ones that simply load a pdf file;
it is the links that have a named destination that will
not work. All of the green links
will work.

Additionally, you will lose all messages that pop-up with
`funny messages.' All graphics are lost too.

These are natural limitations put on the system by the Acrobat
application. Loading a file works the same whether on the Web
or on a local system; jumping to a named destination in another
pdf file requires one set commands for the Web and an entirely
different set of commands for a local disk system. It is a bit
of a nuisance because the tutorial is available locally at The
University of Akron; consequently, I must recompile all files
twice, once for the web and again for a local disk system.

The tutorial is undergoing constant change; downloading the
tutorial immediately outdates it! What you see here is my `first
time through.' Over the next year, I'll re-read the entire tutorial,
re-write it, add new exercises and examples, more figures, better
explanations etc, etc, and, of course, etc.

The Web system works very well at The University of Akron---the
access time in my office is quite acceptable. Should you be interested,
I might consider allowing other universities mirror this
site, in this way the tutorial will be a greater pleasure (more
than it already is :--) ) to use.

Please contact me if you would like to mirror this site.

Acknowledgments

The Algebra tutorials has never properly proof-read I would
like to thanks the following Web Surfers for reporting the "Algebraic
Bug" that lived in the lessons. They are Gary M of U.K.,
Jeff K of the USA, Eric M of the USA, and Marco of Iceland. Many,
many thanks for finding errors and typos; they have all improved
the quality of the "Algebra Review
in Ten Lessons".dps